Friday, April 3 - Sunday, April 5

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 10! The Week 10 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and the remaining Week 10 assignments are due on Friday or on Saturday or Sunday - please make sure you get started on those assignments soon. Also, Friday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Thursday.

Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. I've read and replied to all the Week 9 assignments turned in on time, but if you turned in a late Week 9 assignment, or an early assignment for Week 10, 11 or 12, it may still be in the stack. My goal is to get comments back to everyone by the end of the day Friday for assignments turned in before Friday at noon. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Storybooks: CHOOSING to Stop with Three Stories. (repeat announcement) There is nothing sacred about having four stories in a Storybook. Some of you may have missed two weeks' worth of assignments earlier in the semester, so you already know you will have just three stories total. Others of you may CHOOSE to finish with just three stories. So, think about that when you go to add the new story to your Storybook for Week 10. If you do not need the 20 points for adding the fourth story and revising it (Week 12 and Week 13 assignments), you can choose to conclude your Storybook with just three stories in it, making this third story (Week 10) your final story. Quite a few students choose to do this every semester, and it is fine with me! If you decide to finish with just three stories, here is what you will do: Week 10 Third Story; Week 11 Revise Third Story; (skip Week 12 and Week 13); Week 14 Revise Introduction; Week 15 Final Revisions. It's up to you, based on your personal preferences and the number of points you will be needing to get the grade you want (410 total for an A, 360 total for a B, 320 total for a C).

Week 10 Internet assignment. (repeat announcement) The Week 10 Internet assignment is available now! This is basically like the Week 9 assignment, where you will be reading three Storybooks, but there is something different this week. You have only one assigned Storybook, and two free choices this week - one of those free choices should be a Storybook that is new to you, and the other free choice should be a repeat visit. That is, you should go back to a Storybook you have visited before and read a NEW story at that Storybook (either the second or third or fourth story - any story, so long as you have already read at least one story at that Storybook before, and there is a new story for you to read). There are detailed instructions at the Week 10 Storybook assignment page; I hope that makes sense - if you have any questions about this new twist on the assignment, let me know.

Saturday April 4: Qingming Festival. The Qingming Festival - the "Clear and Bright" Festival - is celebrated in China and other Asian countries approximately two weeks after the Spring Equinox, and in 2009 that means the Qingming Festival will take place on April 4. It is a holiday for celebrating in the out of doors, and also for the cleaning and decorating of ancestral graves. For this reason it is sometimes called "Tomb Sweeping Day." The image below shows a man painting a gravestone at the Babaoshan Cemetery in Beijing for the Qingming holiday; you can read more about the holiday in this Wikipedia article.

Thursday, April 2

Today is Thursday of WEEK 10 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 9 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that UNTIL NOON today for partial credit. For those of you in Myth-Folklore or World Lit, Thursday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday. (Indian Epics has no Wednesday assignments, so there is no Thursday morning grace period.)

Storybook Stack. I've still got a few items left in the Storybook stack. You can check to make sure you assignment is in the stack here. If you turned something in on or before noon on Monday, you should have comments back from me; if you turned something in after noon on Monday or on Tuesday or Wednesday, it is probably still in the stack. I'll do my best to get comments back to everybody by the end of the week; if you want to get comments back before the weekend, please turn your assignment in by Friday at noon. As always, if you want to get comments back sooner than later, turn in your Storybook before Sunday - if you turn something in on Sunday or later, it ends up in an awfully big stack of assignments and it takes me a few days to get through them all.

My Thursday schedule. Today, Thursday, is a day when I have some out-of-office appointments that will keep me away from my computer for at least part of the day. As a result, I may be more slow to answer your emails, but if you have a question about anything, send me an email, and I will get an answer to you by the end of the day on Thursday at the latest.

April 2: Hans Christian Andersen. Today, April 2, marks the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen in the year 1805. Some of you in the Myth-Folklore class may be reading Hans Christian Andersen's stories this week! You can find some background information about his life and career at the Myth-Folklore website or in this Wikipedia article. Andersen is probably most famous today for his story about "The Little Mermaid" - although his version is very different from the Disney film, which is only loosely based on Andersen's tale. Andersen is also the author of "The Princess and the Pea," "The Ugly Duckling" and many other wonderful stories. The image below is a photograph taken of Andersen in 1869; he died a few years later, in 1875, at the age of 70. You can read over one hundred of Andersen's stories in English at the Gilead.org website.

Wednesday, April 1

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 10 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 9 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Tuesday.

Storybook Stack. There are still some Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you turned something in on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later, on Monday or on Tuesday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Storybooks: Working ahead. Remember, you don't need to wait on my comments back about your Week 9 revisions before you move on to Week 10 and add a new story to your Storybook. Also, depending on your own personal preferences, some of you may choose to finish your Storybook WITH JUST THREE STORIES. So, think about that when you go to add the new story to your Storybook for Week 10. If you do not need the 20 points for adding the fourth story and revising it, you can choose to conclude your Storybook with just three stories in it, making this third story your final story. Quite a few students choose to do this every semester, and it is fine with me! If you decide to finish with just three stories, here is what you would do: Week 10 Third Story; Week 11 Revise Third Story; (skip Week 12 and Week 13); Week 14 Revise Introduction; Week 15 Final Revisions. It's up to you, based on your personal preferences and the number of points you will be needing to get the grade you want (410 total for an A, 360 total for a B, 320 total for a C).

April 1: April Fool's Day Hoaxes. There is a wonderful article in Wikipedia about the many famous April Fool's Day Hoaxes over the years. One of my favorites is this one from National Public Radio in 2007, when they ran a sponsor announcement for Soylent Green (yes, one of my favorite movies of all time): "Support for NPR comes from the Soylent Corporation, manufacturing protein-rich food products in a variety of colors. Soylent Green is People." You can listen to the NPR audio of the Soylent Green announcement in their archives.

Tuesday, March 31

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 10 of the class. For those of you who are working ahead, Weeks 11 and 12 are also available! If you have not turned in your Week 9 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

Storybook Stack. As usual at the beginning of the week, there are still LOTS of Storybook assignments in the stack. If you turned something in on Saturday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Sunday or Monday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. If you turned something in and don't see your name there, please let me know.

Week 10 Internet assignment. The Week 10 Internet assignment is available now! This is basically like the Week 9 assignment, where you will be reading three Storybooks, but there is something different this week. You have only one assigned Storybook, and two free choices this week - one of those free choices should be a Storybook that is new to you, and the other free choice should be a repeat visit. That is, you should go back to a Storybook you have visited before and read a NEW story at that Storybook (either the second or third or fourth story - any story, so long as you have already read at least one story at that Storybook before, and there is a new story for you to read). There are detailed instructions at the Week 10 Storybook assignment page; I hope that makes sense - if you have any questions about this new twist on the assignment, let me know.

Coming on APRIL 1: CONFICKER VIRUS. I know I've been including announcements about this for several days, but it is of really huge importance, so I am including it again today, March 31, which is the last day before the Conficker virus goes "live" - although no one really knows what that will mean. The OU IT department has put up a webpage about the Conficker virus, with detailed information about free anti-virus software provided by OU IT for OU students, faculty and staff: OU IT Security Alert - Conficker. If you are using a Microsoft Windows computer, you need to make sure you have scanned your computer for this virus, removed it from your system, and installed the latest Windows security patches. If you need help or additional information beyond what is provided on this OU IT webpage, you can call 325-HELP for assistance.

Monday, March 30

Today is Monday. Week 9 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Week 10 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started. The Week 11 assignments are also available now, too! (Week 12 will be available tomorrow.)

Storybook stack. As always on Monday, I will have a huge bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack that were turned in over the weekend. The first thing I will do on Monday morning when I get to work is to update the list of items in the Storybook stack. So, after 8 a.m. or so on Monday, you will be able to check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will be reading and reply to the assignments in the order they were turned in.

Extra credit. For those of you who would like to finish the class early so that you have more time available for your finals and end-of-semester projects in other classes, you can work ahead AND you can take advantage of the extra credit! If you can do all the various extra credit options each week for the next five weeks, that will give you an extra 25 points - in other words, it will allow you to skip the last week of class and finish up even earlier.

Microsoft Updates and Anti-Virus Software. (Repeat announcement - because it is IMPORTANT!!!!) Some of you may have heard about a very serious virus called Conficker which is spreading like wildfire throughout Microsoft Windows computers. It is extremely important that you update your Windows operating system with the latest security updates at the WindowsUpdate.microsoft.com website. The OU IT department makes anti-virus software available to you FOR FREE, so make sure you have anti-virus software installed on your Windows computer! You have to log on to the IT Store at ITStore.ou.edu, and after you log on, you can click on this Symantec Anti-Virus Software link to download and install the software on your computer for free. ON APRIL 1, it is possible that the Conficker virus will activate and do some serious damage; please make sure your computer is clean and protected!

Tarheels Basketball. Well, as many of you already know I am living in North Carolina this year for family reasons (taking care of my husband's father) - and my husband is a lifelong, diehard Tarheels fan (he did his undergraduate degree at Carolina). All year long I had been anticipating a Carolina-OU basketball match-up and it was a great game to watch. None of the OU basketball games had been on television here this season, so this was my first chance to see Blake Griffin in action - and he was great, but Carolina has some great players, too. Here's a picture from the game with Griffin fast in pursuit of Danny Green, one of Carolina's best players! :-)